While many people have strong beliefs about how much money is being spent on particular government programs, some believing the amount spent being too high and others believing it to be too low, the truth is that it is impossible to have an honest discussion about such things without a true understanding not only of how much each program actually costs, but how much total government spending is.  To make an honest discussion possible, the people must have a citizen portal to government spending and accountability (see article about MassTransparency.com for more information).

It should be possible for anyone to have online access to details of all government spending, including each and every transaction which adds-up to the total amount of government spending as reported in annual audited reports, such as the Statutory Basis Financial Report and the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.  Every contract bid, response and vendor selection, as well as actual invoicing compared to the winning bid should be fully searchable online along with all financial transactions.  It should be possible for anyone to generate reports sorted by dollar amount, payee, department, etc.

A citizen portal should be comprehensive and yet easy enough for anyone to use from a 5th grader to a great-grandparent, without the need for accounting experience or sophisticated computer skills.  The technology and systems which could make such a portal possible already exist, but the establishment lacks the political will to make it happen.  Rather than waiting to take office, Kamal Jain has already begun the work to PURCHASE the necessary data from the state government (despite it being “public” information).  He has also lined-up a world-class team of technical and business professionals to help build the citizen portal starting NOW.

Furthermore, a non-governmental body should be established by the Auditor’s office to assess and identify government waste.  This body would be led and staffed primarily by volunteer experts from the private sector, much like the famed Grace Commission which identified Federal government waste of greater than 30% back in the 1980s.

Tags: Accountability, Citizen Portal, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, Government Spending, MassTransparency.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.